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I’ve only ever had one job where I went in from an agency on a temp to perm, and that was my last one.
Though I cant see what the problem is in trying to find a job without the use of an agency 
Most firms wont take a driver on full time from an agency due to the incredulous finders fee the agency charges the firm.
I was working for Best Connection when I found my current job, and was doing a night shift for them at the time, so went for my interview/induction. Afterwards I phoned the agency telling them out right that I had found myself a job and that I was starting on the following monday full time, and that the night shift I was doing friday night would be the last.
Now whether it was because they knew me, or not, they said it was fine, wished me well in my new job and that was that.
ive only had one job that was perm from the agency and that has taught me alot about getting a job frmo the agency.
i will now want a 1 month trial i with any company that wants me as i ran into soo many problems
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trucks/vans were always overloaded, i left because he wanted me to run a 3.5t van with 2 cages of gas for pubs yet the arse-end was nearly hitting the ground obviously i point blank refused cause my licence was worth more than his poxy profits.
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i was told i would get my own routes for the week and that id be driving class 2, another lie i got 2 days to myself in either a 7.5 or 6.5 tonner. the rest of the week i was a drivers mate
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the pay was rubbish because he never paid me commision and also he took money from me from deliveries i did 5 weeks beforehand because he said i had added up my sheet wrong which is bull cause i never and he had no way of checking how much money he put away because it was aready in the bank.
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i was made to run bent to get the run finished, i lost track of the amount of times it happened, he had 3 drivers in edinburgh and i was the furthest away and always the last to finish but i had to go to costco to pick up stuff yet the other drivers finished hours before me and i asked for them to go which i got told where to go basically, i remember having a 17 hour day on my 22nd birthday then getting shouted at by him cause i was back soo late.next day was the incident with the gas.
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his customers were a pain in the ■■■, always trying to scam the boss but it would be my money if it was scammed id lose, i had one guy trying to pay in foreign notes once, some arabic stuff.
as for getting references from my old bosses that aint a problem, my old boss at the decorating centre will defo give me one as we never once had a problem even though the van was always off the road lol.
and i know ill get a good one from driver hire cause she always says theres never a problem when i go work for somebdoy, i go to get the job done then get home with no hassles or anything.
I called one agency today,and the lady gave me some genuine decent,she said stick with bus-driving because there’s no work,she has about 6 fellas on standby. 
Been doing the rounds myself as my agri contracting work finishes soon till April. Been to Best Connection, Driverhire, Adr and a couple of locals, Plus rang some others who said how quiet it was and it wouldn’t be worth registering at the moment. At every agency there was at least one other person in there registering too.
They all said how quiet it is apart from ADR, but that fell through cos they only pay through an umbrella company, and imo the way they put what they are doing the IR will be interested in them at some point so I’m keeping clear. Out of the 4 who signed me up there is only 2 I really trust to understand my needs (run a farm as well and have 2 weeks agri work left when the weather picks up), thats Best Con because I have worked for them before and know they are flexible and don’t hold things against you, and one of the locals, because she was straight with me that she had just set the business up and didn’t have many clients yet, but I could tell she was being honest. I told everyone that I would be signed up with a few agencies and would work on a first come first served basis. I know that I’m in a slightly better situation than most because of my other work, so I can afford to be picky.
Upto yet can’t fault Best Con, got a job lined up for monday and I only signed back up yesterday. But time will tell. I would sign up with as many as possible.
ive registered with a few agencies since posting this,manpower and a few other local ones.
one has a contract with dhl in edinburgh and ive worked at dhl before so i know how that place works, another has a contract with parcelforce, £8 -12 an hour to drive a van lol. but i have to get a security check for that so its weeks before i hear back.
and manpower are putting me through a security check for the royal mail so hopefully when that all comes through ill get something decent and not get the crap from driver hire right now.